The Painting: Someone will open this Christmas morning and I hope they enjoy it as much as I enjoyed painting it. I learned new technology sending pictures via phone to the gift buyer. This took about 8 days to paint with layering of many intricate areas.

The Thought: I promised on Facebook to share St Nicholas Day. My family is of German heritage. We always celebrated St Nicholas Day on the sixth. As I had children, we tried to keep St Nicholas the day for Santa totally separate from Christmas. St Nicholas Day is for the children in the family.

Christmas is for Christ and the celebration of His birth. We do exchange family gifts and we trade names with a limit of $50. That way we eat together and enjoy a simple time of sharing gifts. When you have to shop for one person, it is a lot more intimate as you think it out to buy just the right things.

On Christmas Day we allow ONE gift in the stocking. A small one and that is a heart gift... our greatest gift of heart came with Him through the Father. SOOO this morning is the beginning of St Nicholas Day. When Crystal wakes up this morning there are some special gifts for her to open with candy and fruit in her stocking.

This is the second Sunday in Advent. I have run behind in preparation within my heart for the season. This week I was led by a wise friend to reorder my priorities and thoughts as well as my direction. I was forced to throw out the "BUT'" and the "What ifs" and guess what, my life has been so much improved. Putting God into everything from the simplest task to the most complicated really works. Tossing out the song, " I did it my way." was a bit more difficult as I am a total control freak. It was time for desperate changes. I am not at liberty to share the whys to bring this about, but it boils down to the simple of letting go and letting God and recognizing HIM in every task, every thought and every movement.

My confirmation verse is from Proverbs. I have used it often, but here it is again a little deeper.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight" Proverbs 3:5-6

The first place we go wrong is leaning on OUR own understanding. Some of us begin to worry about paying the bills or making it all work when the money is tight. We worry about our car and the service it needs and not enough to cover it, or the tires that need to be replaced. We worry about covering rent or our house note. That my friends, is OUR UNDERSTANDING...not His. Man plans his own way while it is God that orders his steps. It is not a roadmap that we need or a postcard or a direction on a decision that has to be made, it is a relationship that must exist and be nurtured. A relationship with God. We are constantly taking back into our lives things we need to give to Him permanently.

His Spirit lives within each of us. The Spirit does not need a road map. The Spirit is there to impress upon us God's way, not our way. LEAN ON HIM, TRUST HIM, HE will make your path ahead, do not try and clear the brush and find your own. You do not have to find all the answers. You do need to develop a concrete relationship with Him that is woven into your life as you speak, work, do and play.

This is a habitual thing that has to be nourished and encouraged and constant. It will not be if you do not allow it to be. So as my friend shared simply with me this week, I have begun making major changes in my priorities. Life is passing me by as I try to do it all and he has reminded me of a simpler more delightful life that does not require so much work to make it happen. If the trust and belief is not there, it will not happen. IN ALL YOUR WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM.... today and always.

Abundance is yours today.

Laurie

"He went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone." --Matthew 14:23

Laurie Justus Pace Contemporary Texas Artist

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